Water Pollution News

“I was making ice cream, and didn´t hear the noise,” remembers Neuza da Silva Santos. “My sister arrived yelling that the dam had broken, and I went outside. The river…

On May 12, an estimated 2,100 barrels of oil — about 88,200 gallons — spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil had leaked from an undersea pipeline system operated…

Illegal gold mining has become a big problem for Tambopata National Reserve in southern Peru. Despite its status as an official protected area, mining has encroached along the river that…

n November 2008, a gang of around 70 assailants attacked S. Mugilan and his nine comrades with kadaparais (crowbars) and aruvals (curved machetes). The attack took place at around three…

When the sun rose over Indonesia's giant Lake Toba on Wednesday last week, fish farmers saw that death in the night had visited their floating cages, and taken everything. By…

n July 1914 oil drilling activities were formally initiated in the state of Zulia, in western Venezuela, with the opening of the historic Zumaque I oil well on the east…

Vietnam has bet its future on its ability to attract — and learn from — foreign investors. It has a young workforce, low wage rates and a streamlined approval process…

Between 2010 and 2014, more than a thousand common bottle-nosed dolphins washed ashore on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. These dolphin strandings were the “largest and longest cetacean…

inety nine percent of 500 coral reefs surveyed in the Australian Great Barrier Reef’s pristine north are being hit by a global bleaching event that’s already slammed reefs in the…

What China’s new five-year plan could mean for global climate change [WRI blog] China has just released their 13th Five Year Plan, which sets new targets surrounding carbon and energy…

n a sweltering February afternoon, the muffled cries of a baby resounded from a thatched pole and dagga hut in the Marange area of eastern Zimbabwe. Villagers in this part…

The environment you live in could be killing you. Nearly one in every four deaths can be attributed to polluted air or water, climate change, chemical exposures, or other environmental…

The northeastern Australian state of Queensland is home to lush tropical forests, unique wildlife, and rivers that feed into the largest reef system in the world. But researchers write that…

“We're no longer the men of the lake. If the lake goes, we will too.” With these words, Simiano Valero expresses his sadness over the disappearance of Poopó Lake, the second…

Helicopter over a forest supplanted by a mature oil palm plantation and it will look verdant from the sky. The ocean surface over a bombed-out reef still glimmers aquamarine. But…

Samarco is a joint venture between two mining companies, BHP Billiton Brasil Ltda. and Vale S.A., currently ranking as the 10th largest exporting company in Brazil. For five years, it…

Native people have lived along what is now Canada’s rugged north Atlantic coastline for thousands of years, fishing and hunting marine mammals for sustenance. New research in the Proceedings of…

Compounds from our makeup and bathrooms are winding up in the bodies of dolphins, sea otters, and polar bears – sometimes thousands of miles away. For the first time, research…

palm oil company remains at the heart of conflict in northern Guatemala, months after a mass fish die-off. A day after company operations were suspended pending further investigation into the…

Fishing gear stands ready next to the day's catch on the shore of Lake Victoria. Photo credit: Isaiah Esipisu. Lake Victoria, Africa's largest fresh water body and the world's second…